Burning food as fuel is criminal: Why biofuels are not a solution to aviation's emissions problem

Is this a good time to take millions of hectares out of food production, putting pressure on prices, in order to feed aircraft?

A report on net-zero aviation fuels found there is no sustainable alternative to jet fuel that could match the amount of flying undertaken. Picture: David Creedon

It is said that for every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple — and wrong. 

Few problems are more complex than decarbonising the aviation industry, and the simplest solutions now being touted include turning vast swathes of farmland into fuel to feed its voracious appetite for energy.